A Harvest Moon Story Magical Melody
by pugsly6338
Summary: Alexandra Alex Harper moved to Mineral town on the Exciting Ranch Plan and met a boy named Joe a cute childish soon to be carpenter with an obsession for turnips. She also met the mysterious fisherman Ray and the cute doctor Alex... Budding romances or budding friendships, neither seems clear for Alex or the three men involved in her life.
1. Chapter 1

Spring 

Chapter 1

~Here I am, in Mineral town living in a small one floor house. The bedroom has a small bathroom with a small bathtub with a shower head on the wall; the kitchen and the living room are one room. This should be fun; I have five hundred gold and no friends. Well that's not true, my neighbor Ellen came over and gave me one of the dogs because there's no room on her farm. I shall treasure this gift forever, I've named the puppy Jennifer, Jennie is her nickname.

I guess I should start working if I want money as soon as possible. It's six in the morning, but I'm not going back to sleep any time soon, I'll go walk around the sleeping town to figure things out.

-Alexandra Harper Monday Spring day 2 year 1~

Alexandra headed over to her toolbox located in the living room and took out the reaper; ax and iron hoe and put them in the rucksack that was resting next to the toolbox. She called Jennie over to the door where the dog happily jogged over to her feet.

"Let's go outside we've got a lot of work to do if we want to make money." Alexandra said as she opened the door. Jennie ran outside and Alex followed behind her, she got a good look at her backyard. Littered with leaves, weeds, branches and a few trees that had to go, her back and muscles began to ache at the thought of how long this would take. She also noticed there was no real fencing around her yard, the house itself has a little fence around it but nothing in the back.

"I'll use the fallen branches as a make-shift fence for now; there should be enough to keep any unwanted intruders from my crops until I can get proper stakes from those giant trees." Alexandra said to herself, it was at this point she realized living alone requires a lot of conversations with yourself, hopefully no one will think she's crazy.

The smaller stuff was the easiest to clear as well as some of the medium sized boulders. Once she realized the trees were next was when she decided to go look around town. The closest place other than Ellen's Ranch was a wood shop. Next to the wood shop is the place to buy seeds and some out of season foods when you need them. You can also buy saplings there for fruit trees and whatnot... unfortunately it's closed today which meant the wood shop was where she was headed first.

The owner of the shop, an old man about five foot eleven and in great shape despite looking aged, looked up from his desk when she entered the shop. There were two other guys with him much younger than he is. They could be his relatives' kids possibly or maybe his own sons, but they are quite young.

"Hello there, you're a new face to my store?" He asked with a friendly smile.

"I just got here last night, I moved next to the river near Ellen's house."

"Oh Ellen and her crew are a nice group of people. I'm Woody; I own the store and those two over there are my apprentices, Kurt and Joe. Kurt is the taller one with the green bandana and Joe is shorter with the blue bandana. What's your name miss?"

"I'm Alexandra, you can call me Alex if you want." she introduced herself to them.

"Hi Alexandra," Joe smiled and waved to her, he seemed to be the most lively out of the three. "I'm new too! We can be new buddies!"

"Um okay sure." She said unsure whether to say no or yes. Joe has a very childlike manner but is very energetic in the way he talks. It's even clear in their clothes; Joe has the brighter colors, bright blue bandana with stars, and tan vest with red and white stripped sleeves. His pants are chocolate brown and they match the color of his hair and eyes. His shoes are blue and white converse however, the white has faded to a gray from being so worn out. Kurt the taller one has camouflage bandana with a gray vest that has a blue stripe in the middle. He has a sleeveless black shirt and camouflage pants. He wore red and yellow bands on his right arm and green fingerless gloves on his hands, Joe's are gray and fingerless as well. Kurt's shoes match the bands on his arm, red sneakers with yellow shoelaces. Kurt has a very lone wolf vibe about him whereas Joe has a smile that could light up a cave. Woody is like the father figure to the boys even if he's their boss.

"Basing your friendship on the fact that you both moved here around the same time is a silly idea Joe." Kurt sighed but Joe's smiled filled with confidence in the fact he'll befriend Alex soon enough. "Besides, newbies without any support usually don't last very long in new towns with little money." He said half to himself but Alex ignored him.

"Don't let what my older brother says get to you, he's a butt sometimes." Joe whispered in Alex's ear. She nodded even though Kurt's comment didn't bother her in the first place. "What do you like doing on your spare time?" he asked her.

"Well I like fishing occasionally, that's why I live by the river. One end closer to my backyard and the other end is by my front yard."

"That sounds like my dream home! I'm so jealous of you!"

"Well you can visit if you want; I won't mind I figure it'll be pretty lonely in a house all by myself."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll visit you when I get off work so we can go fishing!" He smiled and hugged her overwhelmed with excitement.

"Okay, I'll see you later, bye guys!" I waved to them as I headed out of the shop.

"Bye" Woody and Joe said goodbye Kurt resumed working at his workbench on something that wasn't finished, it looked like a pile of wood cut up and strewn about on the table.

Alex left the wood shop and headed northwest to the farm next to her house. The Blue Sky Ranch a functioning farm and shop they sell animals and feed for animals as well as some products like milk, eggs, and cheese. She entered the two story blue roofed building and saw a woman tidying up the shop and an older man dressed like a cowboy with an elongated head and buckteeth behind the counter.

"Why hello there new face" He greeted her, "Are you the rancher that moved here on that new plan I heard the mayor gushing about for the past month?"

"Yes daddy, she took our dog earlier." The lady turned around and Alex smiled at the short mousy brown haired woman.

"Hi Ellen, how are you?" Alex asked happy to see a familiar face.

"I'm good; this is my shop as well as my home along with my cousin Blue. This is my dad Hank." She said wiping her hands on the white apron on the front of her yellow and orange dress.

"By the way Blue helps us with the ranch and Bob usually does the collection box related tasks. Blue's not much of a people person, and he's a little difficult, but give him food and he'll open up to you eventually." Ellen explained while she walked into the other room disappearing behind a brick wall.

"You should go introduce yourself to them." Hank chimed in the conversation.

"Okay, I'll go do that now. I'll see you both later."

Ellen pulled out the notebook that was sticking out of the pocket of her apron, "Wait take this animal notebook it'll teach you how to take care of animals." Alex took the notebook and thanked Ellen then headed outside towards the back where their own farm animals were grazing in the small field of grass.

"You're Alexandra, the girl who lives next to us! I'm Bob!" A tall square headed man with black hair gelled straight up in little spikes on his head.

"Hi Bob" Alex waved to him; "Ellen and Hank told me to come out and meet you guys."

"Awesome! Ellen and Hank are awesome people."

"Bob, stop chit-chatting and get back to work, that wool won't shave itself." Blue snapped at his coworker.

"Oh I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, I'll come back later but I just wanted to say hello." Alex blushed slightly nervous by Blue's sharp tone to his voice.

"Well you said hello now you need to leave." He instructed and Alex quickly left the area.

There are mountains near her house, they're not giant snowcapped mountains but they are indeed mountains. There's a well soiled trail that called her name. Alex quickly ran home and grabbed a few bottles of water and threw them in her backpack. Alex let Jennie outside with fresh dog food and cool clean water in her bowl in the dog house. Once she finished lacing up her hiking shoes she skipped over to the mountains to explore for an unknown amount of time.

After a half an hour she filled her bag with Moondrop flowers purple herbs lots of honey and 'Very Berries' as well as green herbs. The spring weather warm and comfortable lead to Alex dipping her feet into the lake that sits at the top of the mountain and flows down into a waterfall then winds its way through the town into the ocean. Little fish swam about minding their own business occasionally swimming towards the surface and checking her out but they'd lose interest and swim away again.

Twelve O'clock brought about lunch time hunger, Alexandra began her long walk home to cook something only to realize that she doesn't have anything in her fridge. She stopped at the Blue Sky Ranch and brought a bunch of eggs. They don't have bread here; the seed shop has the bread. She put the honey and herbs in the fridge and made herself some scrambled eggs. After a brief lunch she headed back outside and explored the mountains, that's where Joe met up with her after work ended at six thirty.

"Hey there friend," Joe called as he jogged up the hill with his fishing pole in hand.

"Hi Joe," Alex waved to Joe, "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you I wouldn't be home earlier, I honestly didn't know I wouldn't be home."

"It's okay; I didn't tell you when I got off work so we're even." He sat down at the edge the arching walking bridge.

"How was your day?" he asked staring at the water.

"It was good; I've spent almost all day in the mountains. They're beautiful and I'm probably going to come up here tomorrow."

"That's cool, I usually don't venture up here often but Ellen mentioned you headed up towards the mountains earlier so I headed up here to see if you were still here."

"You really wanted to go fishing with me didn't you?"

His cheeks turned a light pink and he let out a small laugh "I love fishing just as much as Ray does! He's a professional fisherman with that show on the educational channel every afternoon."

"Interesting, I just do it as a hobby." Alex said waiting for a fish to nibble on the bait. The sun seemed to be setting fast and Joe looked sleepy. "Do you want to go home and sleep? You look tired."

"I'm good, besides I don't have work on Tuesdays so I can stay up as late as I want to." He explained with a small smile and a brief yawn.

"Go home and get some rest, you have Tuesday off so you should sleep." Alex said reeling in the line. "The fish will be here and in the river tomorrow. I'll meet you by my house after breakfast."

"Sure, hopefully I'll be there after 9:30." He smiled packing up his fishing rod. They walked down the mountain together picking up some honey on the way down to the town below them.

"I hope we can be friends, Kurt told me that it was silly to base our friendship off the fact we're new here. He insisted that it wouldn't last long because we'd drift apart."

"I think we'll be friends, you seem nice so I don't see why we can't be friends. You said it yourself 'don't let Kurt bother you,' so I won't let him bother me. I'll see you tomorrow, bye Joe." She said heading towards her house. Joe waved goodbye and hurried off to the wood shop, Alex let Jennie back inside and prepared herself for bed.

~Today is the second day of my life in Mineral Town. I've already made one friend or I'm in the process of making a new friend, his name is Joe and he works at the wood shop down the street. He has a brother named Kurt who isn't very nice. He probably hates me or something I'm not sure but he wasn't happy that Joe thinks he can base a friendship off the fact that we both moved here around the same time. I hope he warms up to me in the future I don't want him to hate me.

Alexandra Harper Tuesday Spring Day 3 Year 1~

Alex made herself breakfast after letting Jennie outside, looking at her empty fridge reminded her that she needs to start farming as soon as possible otherwise she'll remain poor and probably lose her house and have to go back home. Proving the Exciting Rancher plan completely pointless or that Mayor Theodore picked the wrong candidate for this experiment. At seven in the morning, she got a knock at her door; she wasn't sure who decided to knock on her door at this early in the morning. Joe isn't due to show up for a few hours.

"Good morning Alexandra!" Bob's big square head greeted her. "I'm here to tell you about the shipping process." He smiled pointing to the brown box outside Alex's house.

"Thanks but I already figured it out later last night. You put stuff in that box over there and someone comes and empties it and that's about all I've figured out."

"That's about right, I come and collect the stuff you put in the box and the money comes at the end of the day. Over there behind your house is where your lumber shed is located in case you want to build a fence around your property once you've started your garden. If you run out of wood to make stakes there's plenty of logs lying around for your disposal. If you don't feel like walking around and chopping everything up, visit the wood shop and buy some."

Alex nodded, "I was there yesterday. Woody told me everything I needed to know about the wood shop. I also met Joe who decided we're going to be friends because he's new here and so am I. It's kind of silly but he seems like a good guy."

"That's nice, I haven't met them yet but I hope to meet them soon."

Alex noticed she had mail and smiled. Someone sent her a letter already. She walked towards her little red mailbox and opened the letter. It's from Woody reminding her about random information about the wood shop.

"I'll see you later I have to go back to work now." He announced and headed off to the Blue Sky Ranch.

At nine thirty Joe showed up at her house ready to go fishing with Alex.

"Are you ready to go fishing Alex?" He asked with a bright smile on his face.

"Yup, I hope you don't mind if Jennie runs around for a while."

"I don't mind I love dogs!" His face lit up as Jennie ran out the door. We walked towards the corner on the west end of the river this was our fishing spot for the day or however long we decide to stay here.

"So have you started planting anything yet?" Joe asked casting his line out in the water.

"Not yet, I haven't had much money to buy anything."

"So I know I said we're going to be friends because we're both new, but I have a question."

"Ask away my friend."

"I really love turnips but I don't have the time to plant them. They're in season now but it's a bother to run to the store and constantly buy them. If it's not too much of an issue, could you give me one of your turnips whenever you start planting them?"

"If I can afford to give you one, I know they gave me money to start with but it won't last long. Once I'm financially stable I will be glad to give you any fruit or vegetable you want." Alex said and quickly turned her attention back to the water; she felt a tug on her line and noticed a fish was biting.

"You got a bite," Joe said excited and prepared to help her reel it in, but she didn't need any help she pulled in a rainbow trout. "That's my favorite fish!" he squealed like a child with their Christmas present.

"Do you want it?" Alex asked handing him the fish.

"No, you caught that fish, you keep it." He declined the fish, just as he said that something was biting on his line. He reeled in a crawfish which he threw back in the water. "I hate shell fish," he made a face as it swam away.

Alex shrugged her shoulders, "I don't mind them much."

They fished for hours filling their buckets with various fish including much to Joe's satisfaction, rainbow trout. Alex decided that one bucket of fish would last for the day and packed up her stuff.

"I'm going to head home now, put some of the fish away and sell some of them. I'll go buy some seeds too and I'll make sure to buy a lot of turnip seeds." Alex smiled at him. Joe's face lit up again like a child.

"Thank you so much! You're the best friend I've ever had." He hugged Alex as tightly as he could.

"You're welcome Joe." She giggled.

Alexandra arrived at the seed shop in the afternoon greeted by a girl with light purple hair and a slightly dark golden dress and a purple shirt underneath it. She had green hair ribbon in her hair and had a light voice pleasant to the ears.

"Welcome new comer, what's your name?" She asked with a smile from her small lips.

"I'm Alexandra but I normally go by Alex." She introduced herself.

"I'm Liz and my daughter is in the back." She motioned with her head towards the brick archway leading into the other room.

"Did you call me mom?" A short round face girl with pink rose hair asked peaking her head around the corner.

"No but I did need you to get another box of crop notebooks, I'm all out of them."

"I'll get them, be back in a flash." She smiled and disappeared.

"You get a free crop notebook, Nina is going to get some more but until she gets back what can I do for you today?" She asked.

"I'll take two pouches of breadfruit, potatoes, strawberries, and cabbage seeds, and four pouches of turnips." Alex read the list of spring seeds to plant. She thought about growing some herbs or moon drop flowers but she didn't want to spend all of her money in one day. Liz took the seed pouches out of their respective boxes on shelves behind her.

"Do you want them in a bag?" She asked and Alex nodded.

"Yes please, that would be very helpful."

Nina came back with a medium sized box, "Here you go mom, more crop notebooks." She said placing the box on the brown counter. She's wearing a blue dress with a white apron decorated with a light purple hem and two pockets on the front. Nina handed one of the notebooks to Alex.

"Here's your free crop notebook, I hope you have a plentiful spring season!"

"Thank you both; I'll come back when I need more seeds!' She said placing the notebook in her bag. She took the seeds and headed home to finish clearing the land and plant the seeds.

~Today was interesting, Joe and I have an agreement I'm going to give him turnips until the end of spring. Well nothing is set in stone but if I have some to pass over to him then I will give him some. This should be an interesting spring as well as a friendship…

Alexandra Harper Spring Day 3 Year 1~


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With the seeds planted in the ground there's not much to do other than water them and wait for them to grow in a week hopefully. This left Alex with nothing more to do than fish or walk around town. Joe has to work so they can't hang out yet. She sat on the little wooden chair in the open area living room combined with her dining room watching television. Nothing seems to be on television in the early morning hours, quickly checking the weather again, another report of sunny weather for the next two weeks with some cloudy days; she decided to sit at the river and fish.

She sat on the edge of her garden, no one to bother her in the comfort of her own backyard. Alex quickly lost herself in the relaxing sound of the river flowing… so much so that when a fish tugged on the line, the pole almost fell in the water.

That night Alex counted the fish she had left over, she must have sold the majority of fish she caught. However she was happy with the fish she had left over. She took some of the rainbow trout and set it aside in a separate container in the fridge for Joe. She figured she'd make him lunch for tomorrow since she already made some salted rainbow trout.

_Day four in mineral town comes to a close, it took four days but I nearly fell in the water while fishing. It's a good thing no one was around to see otherwise I would have felt very embarrassed. Hopefully my crops grow soon; I need to sell things other than fish and Fish will only last you so long before you get sick of it. _

_~Alexandra Harper Wednesday Day four year 1_

Alex decided to sleep in the next day since waking up early hasn't provided any advantage whatsoever. Instead of waking up at eight in the morning, she planned on waking up at ten. However someone decided to knock on her door at six in the morning. A short sandy blonde haired man stood at her door with bright brown eyes.

"Good morning neighbor!" He smiled as Alex rubbed her eyes waiting for them to adjust to the bright sunlight.

"Good morning," She yawned.

"My name is Carl; I heard you were invited here just like I was. I'm really interested in the festivals here some of them cater to sweets which I specialize in making. I'm going to open a Café here someday but for now I'm starting at the bottom and working my way up."

"That's interesting, if you want to learn about the festival there's a channel on TV that broadcasts information or talk to the Mayor. They also are marked on the calendar so just buy one of those. I'm going to rest for an hour I'll see you later." She explained with another yawn.

"Oh did I wake you up? I'm so sorry." He apologized.

"It's okay I'll talk to you when I'm actually awake and decent." Alex laughed ending their conversation.

_If people randomly show up to my house asking for things they can easily find out without my help, I think I might move to the mountains. _Alex thought as she gravitated towards her bed, flopped face first into her pillow and quickly fell asleep.

When Alex woke up again she made herself some tea and a bagel for breakfast. She glanced over at her calendar; a yellow box caught her attention next to the plain white one. There's a festival tomorrow, it's the egg festival.

_I don't have any chickens therefore participating in this event is rather pointless…_ She sighed out loud and realized I needed to buy breadfruit and eggs. _I guess I'll have to donate one of the eggs for the festival, oh well one egg short for the week won't kill me. _

Thankfully the eggs are just a few steps away from her house; the Blue Sky Ranch sells amazingly tasty eggs. Standing in the empty town square Alex was contemplating donating it or keeping it for herself. She looked inside the egg collection box, several egg holders have been filled already.

"I could keep this egg if I wanted too… but what if they only need one more egg and I'm the last person they need for a donation? I'd be ruining the entire festival and everyone would know!" She quickly put the egg in one of the open spots and hurried away from the collection box…

On the eight day of spring, the egg festival arrived and the turnips are ripe. The first source of income for Alex and the key to a friendship she stared at the turnips wondering how many she should save and how many should be sold.

_I guess it'll amount to an even split if I save three, ship three and then save another three turnips for Joe over the next two days… if I see him at the egg festival that is…_

To her surprise Joe was indeed at the egg festival, the entire village attends these festivals. Joe, Kurt, and Woody occupied a table towards the south entrance of the town square displaying various egg products except for sweets.

"Hey Joe," Alex ran up to him with a smile on her face, "I have a present for you!"

"Really, when did you get me a present? You didn't have to get me anything."

"Yes I did," she took the turnip out of her bag and handed it to him. "You're welcome." She smiled and his face lit up.

"The turnips are ready!" He hugged her. "Thank you very much I love turnips!"

"You're welcome. I like your display table, but I'm leaning more towards the sweets on Carl's table." She eyed up all the cakes sitting on the Moonlight Café's table they looked delicious and she wanted to eat them all.

Joe made a face, "I can't stand sweets, eggs were meant for fried foods and breakfast dishes."

"How do you not like sweets?"

"I don't know I just can't stand them." He shrugged his shoulders. He turned to Woody who was nibbling on some of their extra food samples, "Who is that really round guy with the big lips in the purple tuxedo?" He asked curiously.

"He's Gourmet, he's usually in town when a food related festivals arrive, and I believe he's some kind of food critic."

"Why doesn't he live here all year? It would be easier instead of traveling back and forth from his home to Mineral Town."

"I don't know maybe he likes to travel."

Joe turned his attention back to me, "How many turnips did you grow?"

"Nine of them, I have two others saved for tomorrow that's all I could set aside for you. I hope you're okay with that."

"No it's alright Alex, I'm happy with one turnip a day." He said with a smile that made me want to smile as well.

"If you're going to kiss her just do it and get it over with." Kurt mumbled I heard what he said but Joe didn't hear him. I decided the best thing to do was ignore him.

_The egg festival was really fun, I had a great time hanging out with Joe and most of the villagers except Jamie who seems to dislike me but she praised Carl for his egg donation that saved the festival. They didn't have the Egg Festival last year because there weren't enough ranchers to donate eggs. I feel silly for worrying about donating an egg thinking the whole festival lied on my shoulders. _

_I had to go to the tool shop shortly after delivering a turnip to Joe, the owner Michael he has blue hair and a yellow M on his shirt. is really nice as well as his daughter Ann… they have an odd relationship, she's an inventor and was tinkering with some machine in the back of the shop but that caused it to blow up and Michael was annoyed because she didn't say hello to me. His wife passed away not too long ago and they're still dealing with that… I decided that I'd befriend them and I hope that will help their healing process. I also met a guy named Dr. Alex he thought it was funny his name is my nickname. Ann and I ventured over to the hospital when she hurt her hand while Michael was looking for the tool notebook to give to me. He's amazingly handsome; he has slightly messy black hair and the most mysterious brown eyes I've ever seen! I think I'm in love with him… Once he was done helping Ann, he randomly gave me a checkup even though I am perfectly healthy… I think I made a complete fool of myself while he was examining me; I kept tripping over my words and taking forever to respond… I'm pretty sure when he checked my blood pressure he noticed my heart rate's slow increase but he didn't comment on it. He simply smiled and said I'm perfectly healthy, He told me that shipping herbs found in the mountains will help him out with making medicine as well as Pontana Roots in the mine by using the hoe. He also warned me that if I do go mining for those roots that I shouldn't overdo it because it's very easy to succumb to fatigue and pass out. I think I'm going to head up to the mountain now and try to find some herbs._

_~Alexandra Harper Monday, Day nine of spring Year 1_

Alex spent most of the afternoon in the mountains collecting purple and green herbs. She stayed up there until her rucksack was nearly overflowing and headed back down to ship them off and spend some time fishing but she wanted to explore more places so she headed off towards the path behind the wood shop. Where Joe happens to be sitting around not working and looked incredibly bored.

"You have your fishing rod which means you're going fishing!" He smiled seeing Alex cured his boredom.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"My shift is pretty much over and we hardly had anything to do today. Wait right there I'll go get my fishing rod." He said and ran inside…

"Where are you heading off to?" I heard through the open window in the back of the shop.

"Fishing with Alex we're going to the lake so we won't be far. If you need me you know where to find me."

"Joe you're still working we have like an hour left."

_Oh Joe, you need to finish your shift before you go fishing with me silly._ Alex giggled to silently while eavesdropping on Joe and Kurt's conversation. He eventually said goodbye to his brother and left the shop.

"Okay I'm back, and I brought lots of bait with me." He announced looking innocent like he always does.

"You do know the window was open and I heard everything Kurt was telling you."

"Kurt has the time of our shift wrong… besides what's going to happen that's so important in the next hour of my life that requires me to be there…" He sighed and started walking towards the lake. Surrounded by a forest of tress this lake looks like it doesn't belong attached to Mineral town. It looks like it's a separate entity compared to all the other nature spots around town. There's a little island in the middle of the lake housing the entrance to a cave. I thought about swimming over to it, but I decided against it.

While we walked around the lake decided where we were going to sit, Joe stopped dead in his tracks and I noticed a twinkle in his eyes. His mouth fell open in shock and he dropped his fishing pole. I turned to see who he was looking at; sitting across the lake was a brown haired man wearing a light blue shirt and a dark blue vest with grey pants and a gold belt to hold them in place.

"It's Ray, the guy from the fishing channel! I worship the ground he walks on!" Joe squealed but it sounded more like a squeak.

"So go say hi to him!"

"I can't feel my legs Alex!"

"Fine, I'll go say hi then." Alex sighed and headed over to Ray, he looked like all of his concentration was on the water and she hesitated to bother him. "Um, hi there." She whispered hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"Hello there," He replied his voice nearly knocked her off her feet, he's a beautiful baritone.

"I'm here with my friend Joe and he really wants to meet you but he can't seem to get his feet to move. So I said I'd come say hi for him."

Ray smiled but continued staring at the water. "Tell him that it's okay to talk to me, I won't bite."

"I'll go tell him." She said and hurried back over to Joe, "He said he won't bite and it's okay to go talk to him."

"I can't just go talk to him! I have to have something to say first! Should I wait until I've caught a fish so I can show it to him? Maybe that's a good conversation starter; do you think it's a good idea?"

"Well you won't know unless you go over there and talk to him." I grabbed his arm and began pulling him over to Ray.

He dug his feet in the ground, "I'm not ready to go talk to him yet Alex! He looks so focused on fishing I don't want to disturb him."

"It's alright; the fish weren't biting over there anyways." Ray said causing us both to jump. Joe's face turned bright red and he hid behind me. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine, he's just being Joe."

"Should I come back later?"

"No don't go!" Joe suddenly came to life, all signs of blushing disappeared and he had the widest smile I've ever seen on his face.

"I'm Joe! I'm here on an internship with my brother Kurt and I really love fishing, I watch your show every day and I wish I was as great of a fisherman as you are!" He said all in one breath causing Ray to laugh I had to look away or he would have seen the embarrassing smile on my face.

"Well you already know who I am so there's no need for an introduction." He held out his hand and Joe shook it repeatedly.

"It's really nice to meet you! I never thought we'd ever meet each other I've been saving up to travel to the various islands you've visited and voted best fishing spots."

"I'm glad I got to meet an enthusiastic fan. I'll be sitting here for a while so if you need me, I'll be over here." He said setting up his fishing pole in the spot he liked.

"I can't believe I got to talk to him! I got to shake his hand! Did you see it Alex?"

"Yes Joe I saw the whole thing, I was standing right next to you." I laughed.

"Can you pipe down over there you're scaring away the animals!" Someone asked sounding angry, Alex and Joe weren't sure who said it or where the voice came from.

"What was that?" Joe asked after a brief silence.

"That was Terry; he's over there in the woods." Ray explained and pointed diagonally from there they were standing. An old man sporting a white pointed beard and mustache walked out of the tree line. He looks like he should be a park ranger or a scout leader.

"You're so loud I can't observe any of the animals here they keep running away. Hush up will you?"

"We're sorry Terry, we'll be quiet." Alex apologized nervously.

"Good," he sighed and disappeared into the trees.

"He's always grumpy like that…" Ray sighed as he reeled in his line, he caught a silver carp. Joe admired him in awe completely overcome by his fan side.

"Well it's eight, I'm going to rest now I suggest you two head back to Mineral town you spent the whole day out here." Ray stood up and stretched then reeled his fishing line in from the water, concluding his day of fishing.

"Good bye Ray," Joe hugged his idol, Ray looked slightly confused and startled. He gave Joe a one armed hug and I had to pull him away from Ray when he wouldn't let go.

"Bye Joe, bye Alex." He gave us a small wave as we walked away.

For the next week Alex spent her days fishing with Joe and Ray as well as planting and selling crops and giving certain foods to people, Ellen likes breadfruit and Blue like's potatoes but not people, he doesn't see the point of giving him gifts if he hardly knows you.

"Well we can get to know each other this way, it's been working for Joe… I give him turnips and fish so we go fishing whenever he has free time and I give him turnips whenever I can."

"It still seems pointless, but thank you anyway." He sighed continuing to milk one of their cows.

After the incident with Blue, Alex headed down to the Wood shop because she needed help putting stakes down around her backyard. When she approached the dark Tudor styled building she froze… how embarrassing would it be to ask for help over a simple task… She'd never hear the end of it from Kurt… she wouldn't be able to face them after dealing with such an embarrassment. Heading back to her house she decided to struggle with the stakes by herself.

She lifted one out of the woodshed successfully. Her confidence continued building when she lifted a second and a third one. By the time she got to steak number four, her arms weren't so happy about the heavy lifting and she didn't get very far. She tried to push it over so she could roll it but that was another project within itself.

"Why must these stakes weigh a ton?" She asked out loud but no one was around to answer. "Even if I get this stupid thing on its side then I have to worry about standing it back up once I get it where I want it." She leaned against the side of her house wondering how to solve her dilemma. Scanning her backyard she noticed a nice sized boulder…

Alex ran into her house and found her rope normally used for walking animals around, but since she doesn't have a barn she figured out a way to put the rope to use. She moved the boulder over to the empty gap in the fence of steaks and returned to the wood shed. She managed to push the fourth stake down and rolled it over to the boulder then tied the rope around it. Using the rock as leverage she managed to stand the steak up slightly but it was vertical enough that she could push it up the rest of the way.

"I'm a genius." She said to herself and continued putting up stakes.

It took nearly an hour but finally she only had one more stake to set up. Feeling very proud of herself she dragged the last stake over to the rock and attempted to pull it up on the rock but it put up a fight. Alex reset the stake up in the right position and tried pulling the stake rolled over the rock and right on to her foot.

"It's been nearly five days since I told you to be careful and here you are with an injured foot." Dr. Alex sighed while he set up the x-ray machine.

"I didn't mean to injure my foot… I was doing fine by myself and then the last stake just didn't want to cooperate." She admitted slightly embarrassed… at least Kurt isn't here to make fun of her about it.

"Doesn't Bob live next door to you?"

"Yes, what does that have to do with anything?"

"You could have asked him to help move the stakes." He said simply and Alex fell silent. Of course she could have asked Bob, he would have been glad to help.

"It's not broken but that doesn't mean you should go back to working on that fence. It's a mild fracture but it should heal soon if you avoid stressing it out." He pointed to the injured area of her foot. He wrapped up her entire foot as well as her ankle in A.C.E wrap then gave her instructions on how to take care of her injury so it doesn't get worse.

"Take the wrap off when you ice it otherwise it won't be very effective. Try to avoid wetting it and avoid walking far distances."

"Well I walked here by myself and I'm alive."

"Well I'll walk you home then." He said helping her off of the chair.

"But don't you have to stay here?"

"You're not walking home by yourself." He repeated placing her arm over his shoulders. "I'll carry you if I have to…" He grabbed a pair of crutches with this free arm.

"Boy you're persistent."

"It's my job." He smiled as they left his office.

"Remember to use these and stay off that foot or it won't heal." He helped her sit down on her bed, "Do you have any other pillows to elevate your foot with?" He asked.

"I only have one pillow, I can't sleep with two."

"Hmmm…" He looked around the house but there wasn't much to his disposal. "I'll be right back." He announced and was out of her house in the blink of an eye.

Jennie sat by the side of her bed looking at her injured foot.

"I'm an idiot, I should have asked Bob for help when he came by to collect the stuff inside the shipping box. I thought I could set up the fence by myself but I was wrong." She sighed and stared up at the wooden beams of the ceiling.

"I'm back now," Dr. Alex returned with a pillow.

"Where did you~"

"Ellen donated it; she said you could keep it since she makes plenty of these in her spare time." He lifted her foot up and placed the little pillow where her foot was. "There you're all set now."

"You really didn't have to walk me home I could have hobbled back here with those crutches." Alex felt bad she made him leave his job and escort her back to her house.

"If I didn't want to help you, I would have sent you back with your crutches. When I say take it easy I mean it."

_Well I fractured my foot today, I feel so stupid for doing so, I could have asked Bob but I completely overlooked that option. I should have just asked Joe for help, I could have lied about it while I was at the Wood Shop but no I chose to leave and do it myself… I'm pretty sure Doctor Alex is annoyed with me. I was happy to see him again and feel those little butterflies in my stomach but he wasn't happy that I was there because of an injury that could have been easily prevented. I guess I'll be out of commission for a few days…_

_~Alexandra Harper Day 14 of spring year 1_


End file.
